S is for Spy
by Nyah
Summary: They said I did really good on a test. I'm special. I hope that means I get to go to Disney world. The story of a next generation weapon. With cameos from a few our our favorite characters.
1. Summer Camp

Author: Nyah  
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to JJ Abrams and Bad Robot. I promise I am neither of them  
Rating: PG  
Feedback: As always appreciated.  
  
S is for Spy  
  
Part one: Summer Camp  
  
They said I did really good on a test. I'm special.  
  
I don't know what that means. Maybe I get to go to Disney World. I hope so.  
  
They said I could go to a camp for special kids like me.   
  
Mom got the letter a few weeks ago. She called the phone number at the bottom of the page and talked for a long time. Longer than when Dad goes on vacation in the bathroom and only the newspaper's allowed to come.   
  
After hours and hours Mom said it was my turn to talk. I said "Hello." Mom grabbed the phone and said something I couldn't hear. She told me I didn't have to talk so loud. This lady wasn't getting deaf like Grandma.  
  
The lady on the phone sounded nice. She had a voice like the woman on the radio at night when they only play mushy songs. I always fall asleep when the radio lady talks and the phone lady made me sleepy too. It was really hard to listen to what she said but she wanted me to go somewhere and said I would get to do fun things. I said, "Like what?"   
  
So she told me about games and puzzles and all kinds of books. She said there was a jungle gym there too that was a lot bigger than the one at my school. After a while I had to go to the bathroom so I told my Mom I wanted to go to camp and handed her the phone. That woman was still talking.  
  
They said camp would last for a whole month.   
  
Camp was in Sandy Ago and Mom couldn't come. I tried to tell her I changed my mind but she said the people were expecting me. So I sat there in the back seat with my bear, Snuggles, and kicked at my suitcase. Snuggles didn't look like the bear in the commercials with all the laundry. Me and Timmy from next-door played doctor with him once, before my operashun. Timmy pulled off one of his eyes and said he would give Snuggles an operashun but he had to go home and eat dinner. I lost the eye. When I got my surgery to make my ear infections go away I brought Snuggles. The doctor gave both of us hospital bracelets with our names on them.   
  
When we got to camp Mom said Snuggles had to stay in the car. I cried. Mom said I had to be a big girl. I didn't like this stupid camp already.   
  
I didn't want Mom to leave. She told me she'd stay for a while and I went to play on the jungle gym. It didn't look so big to me. There wasn't even a slide.   
  
There were a lot of other kids there. More than ten. They were moving around too fast to count. An adult came out. It wasn't the lady from the phone. She said we were going to play hide and seek and I was going to be the it. I said I didn't want to be the it. She said I had to learn reespekt.   
  
We ran around playing hide and seek for a long time. Then it was dinnertime. After that we went to our rooms.   
  
The rooms had bunk beds like Timmy's. Some kids cried that night. The girl on the top of my bunk cried the longest. I rolled on my side and covered my ears. The girl in the next bed was doing the same thing. She looked didn't look sad. I asked if she missed her Mommy. She said she didn't have a Mommy anymore. I asked why not and she said her mommy's car crashed and she just had a Daddy now. I said I was sorry like my Mommy said to everyone at Timmy's grandma's funeral even though it wasn't my fault. When the girl in my bunk finally stopped crying I fell asleep.  
  
Sunlight shined on my face and woke me up. The girl was crying again and I think she wet the bed.   
  
My suitcase was lost somewhere. So was everyone else's.  
&&&&&  
TBC 


	2. C5 and C2

Disclaimer: See part 1  
Author's Note: If the misspellings irk you never fear they won't be sticking around forever.  
  
  
S is for S: C5 and C2  
  
  
They said we had to wear camp uniforms.  
  
I got a dress that was all black and gray. And I had to pull my hair back too so it wouldn't be in the way for activities. I wish my clothes weren't missing.  
  
They said we were going to play games today.  
  
My favorite game is Candyland but they didn't have that one. A man gave me a paper with a bunch of pictures of Mom on it. The man's name was Sir. Sir said I had to look at the picture and pick the one that was really my mom.   
  
I was confused at first because they all looked like her. But then I noticed some weren't the real her. See one had her mole on the wrong side. Another one had her eyes the wrong color. There were all sorts of little things that were wrong. I found the real Mom pretty quick after that.   
  
I looked around at the other kids. They looked happy to see their moms. All except the girl in the seat next to me, the one I talked to last night. I almost didn't realize she was crying at first because she didn't make any noise. She was staring at her pictures. I looked too. The woman had a pretty, smiling face. She looked really nice. But she was making the girl cry. I remembered that that girl didn't have a mom anymore.   
  
Sir saw she was crying too and came and took her pictures away. She started crying even more but sir didn't notice. I decided I didn't like Sir very much.   
  
We played another game like that but this time there were pictures of pennies. That one was easy too.   
  
Then we played an alphabet game. Sir showed us a letter and told us what sound it made. We had to say it back. I knew some of the letters. Some I didn't. I think he made those ones up.   
  
They said different words could mean the same thing.   
  
I already knew that.  
  
Sir taught us a bunch of words that meant 'sun'. Some of them used the made up letters. Then he said there are different kinds of words. Some words dee-scribed things. Some words were things. Some words did things. I didn't understand how a word could do something.  
  
I told Sir that. He gave me a mean look. Then he told us a bunch of words that did things. They were verbs. I wish he'd just say that!  
  
They said we couldn't tell each other our names because names were konfidenshel.  
  
That means secret.  
  
So instead Sir gave us a 'code'. My code was C5. The girl without a mom was C2.   
At lunch I wanted to ask C2 her name. That way we would have a secret and we would be friends. There were too many adults around though.   
  
Me and C2 raced when we went outside. I won. C2 said it was because my legs were longer. I said I was still faster than her. She could do more monkey bars though. We went swimming too but sir wouldn't let us have a breath holding contest. He said that was for another day.   
  
I think some of the kids should still be taking naps. They got really cranky after dinner and started crying again. I didn't cry and neither did C2 or C17 and C18. Those two, C17 and C18, said that didn't cry because they're too brave.   
  
They said C17 had to go home the next day.  
  
C18 cried. They were brothers.  
  
&&&&  
TBC 


	3. Discipline Games

Archive: Take it and let me know.  
Disclaimer: See prt. 1  
  
  
S is for Spy: Discipline Games  
  
They said we showed potenshel.  
  
No that's wrong, P-O-T-E-N-T-I-A-L.   
  
I was finally getting used to the way things went at camp. Sir told me to do something. I did it. Sir said I did it wrong. I fixed it. Sir made me do it a thousand more times just to make sure I really really knew the right way.   
  
Like when we shot the guns.   
  
I was doing really good. I mean, well. On almost every shot I hit the bull's eye. Which really doesn't look anything like a bull's eye but we're supposed to call it that anyway. Sir was watching us. He walked behind me and I saw his lips say something. I smiled because I knew it must have been 'not as bad'. Sir never said 'good job' only 'that was pretty bad' or 'not as bad'.   
  
My smile must have been 'pretty bad' too because Sir's face got all red and his mouth opened really big while he shouted. He stopped shouting, then seemed to get angrier and started again. I didn't know what to do. He was trying to tell me something but yesterday he said never ever to take off my headphones when people were shooting guns because my ears could get hurt.   
  
Finally, Sir noticed the problem. He shouted for a long time first though. I did really good- well on a test. I don't think Sir would do so well.   
  
He opened the door on my lane and we walked out. I took off the headphones and waited for shouting. There was some but not too much. Not even as much as it took to make C11 cry. He said my 'stance' was all wrong and showed me how to fix my 'stance'. Fixing your stance means moving your feet around.   
  
I had to fix my stance. For an hour.  
  
My wrist hurt so bad when I was done I didn't even want to pick up my fork at lunch. That's all right I hated meals here anyway. They weren't too good and I didn't like the cafeteria. The chairs were high and my feet couldn't touch the ground. That made me feel small. I don't like feeling small.   
  
They said we had to learn languages.  
  
That's what all those funny words were and they weren't made up either. We had to learn languages so we could talk to all different people. See not everyone talks in the same language. I don't know why. C18 thinks one day a million years ago somebody saw a cat and named it cat but someone else said it should be a gato and someone else said katt. Then they got in such a big fight that they moved to different countries and made up new words for everything. That's what C2 told me he said anyway.   
  
C18 doesn't talk to me because I laughed at him once for crying about his brother. He still does that sometimes. Even though he'll see him when camp's over. C2 won't see her mom when camp's over but she doesn't cry about it. Sir said C17 left because he had a tummy ache. C18 says Sir lied.   
  
C18 cries a lot but I still like him better than Sir so I'll believe him.   
  
They said we had to do languages and accents.   
  
No one understood what an accent was. Sir told me to say "Put the red wagon in the yellow truck." I did and he told everyone I had an accent because I didn't talk in English first. I thought he would yell at me again. But when everyone understood he even said 'thank you'. Sir told us we had to learn accents so it was like every language was the one we talked in first. So we listened to people talk on headphones and talked with them over and over.   
  
They said we had to learn discipline.  
  
Discipline was walking in two straight lines and saying 'yessir'. It was following orders too, that was the hard part. Orders weren't usually fun. Sometimes they made people get hurt.  
  
We were practicing discipline while we walked back to the cafeteria in two lines. All of a sudden Sir turned around and yelled "camouflage!" That was another game we played. When Sir said it he'd close his eyes and count to thirty and we hid behind trees or bushed or doors inside. At thirty he opened his eyes and if he could see a kid that kid was dead and no one could talk to him the rest of the day. Each time Sir counted lower and lower. By now he was down to twelve and this time there were no trees or bushes and definitely no doors.   
  
The field had no place to hide. Most kids ran and tried to get over the hill but they didn't make it. Me and C2 and another kid C24 I think went the other way.  
  
For the river.   
  
The water was cold but I was never dead before and I didn't ever want to be so I took a big breath and went under. The water pulled on me. I grabbed C2's hand and it didn't pull me away. There was too much mud to open my eyes so I just waited in the dark.   
  
My lungs started burning like I swallowed hot soup and I had to come up. Now would be the worst part. If we got revealed any time in a minute after Sir opened his eyes we were dead. In the minute Sir would try to 'extract intel'. I don't know what 'intel' is but he tried to get us to rat out other kids. If we did we got extra dessert and they had to be dead the next day too. Sir said we had to have karizma. We had to make the other kids like us enough that they wouldn't rat us out for dessert.   
  
I squeezed C2's hand. I wouldn't rat her out.   
  
But then C2 let go and came up too. Her face was really white. Sir's head snapped around to us and he said we were dead. All the other kids were dead too. All except...  
  
C2's other hand was still in the water. C24.   
  
I opened my mouth to rat him out but C2 kicked me. So I punched her arm. I'm sure Sir noticed but unless we talked C24 wasn't dead and I got no dessert. I tried to talk again and C2 ducked me. It didn't work so well because I'm bigger. But by the time I got her off the minute was up.   
  
I was so mad I broke the rules and yelled at C2. Sir said I had to be dead an extra day. C24 came up and smiled at C2 even though she was dead. That was breaking the rules so he had to be dead too.   
  
&&&&&&&&&  
TBC 


	4. Playing Dead

Disclaimer: See part 1  
Author's note: Thanks to everyone for the reviews and good character guesses btw. But who knows maybe they're not supposed to be anyone... evil laughter...  
  
S is for Spy: Playing Dead  
  
  
They said we should take advantage of every opportunity.  
  
We were all dead now so I knew there were no opportunities. If I wasn't dead I would have said so and Sir would have told me I was wrong. Sir saw lots of opportunities. He always did.   
  
Sir put us in 'teams'. But it wasn't boys against girls or anything. He said me and C2 and C24 were together since we liked each other so much. C18 was there too but I don't like him much. Since we had to be a group Sir said the rules for being dead changed. We didn't have to pretend the others weren't there we just couldn't talk.  
  
This was a mission so we had an objective. That was the thing you had to do for the mission to be 'a success'. When Sir taught us objectives he said it was like baseball, the objective of baseball is to win. I told him my daddy said the objective was to have fun. Sir said something about my daddy and a baseball bat. I think it was mean but he used big words so I don't know.   
  
Our objective was to safely transfer new-clear material without entering the danger zone. The new-clear material looked a lot like water to me but it must have been special water because Sir said 'new-clear material' could kill you. But if you put it in a bucket and surrounded the bucket with orange traffic cones you'd be okay.   
  
Sir gave us a black ring with a bunch of ropes tied to it and said we had to use it to get the new-clear material into the 'safe bucket'. It looked just like the first bucket. I wanted to ask how the first bucket with the new-clear material got in the danger zone if no one could go inside but I was dead so I couldn't.   
  
C18 was holding the ropes and ring. We needed to make a plan to do the objective but we couldn't talk. C18 started flapping his hands all around. He was trying to say something. I had no idea what it was though. His face scrunched up and got redder. He was mad. Almost as mad as Sir in the shooting lanes. C18 threw the ropes on the ground.   
  
C24 picked them up and turned them over. He got a little wrinkle between his eyebrows and kept messing up his hair. He was thinking. Then he crouched down and started making hand motions like the scary men with the white faces mommy calls Minds. He made a circle shape. Bucket. Then he started digging the ring down under the leaves where his pretend bucket had been. He wanted to get the ring under the bucket and pick it up.  
  
C2 waved her arms like an umpire does when you're safe only I think she meant 'no good'. She made her own pretend bucket and dug the ring under it them spilled her bucket. She swirled her hands to show the pretend new-clear waste spreading out when it touched her foot she made a face like a dead fish. Me and C24 laughed then we both covered each other's mouths since we were dead and couldn't make any sounds.   
  
Then I remembered that I didn't like C24 and took my hand away and wiped it on C2. She didn't seem to notice. When that girl started thinking about something lightning could strike and she wouldn't notice. Well not really but yesterday a bee stung her on the way to the river and she didn't notice until later so I think that counts.   
  
I tried to take the ring from her so I could help. She didn't like that idea and pulled on it. I pulled back.   
  
And the ring stretched...  
  
Well maybe C2 did notice when lightening struck because we had the same idea right at the same second and we both knew it. She made a pretend bucket and we stretched the ring over it. From there we all just got in a circle each with two ropes. It was so easy to stretch the ring over the real new-clear material buck.  
  
Uh-oh.  
  
We could pick up the bucket just fine but then we had to pour it. C24 came to the rescue. He got a big smile on his face and waved in C2's direction. She screwed her eyebrows up. Confused. Then her eyes bulged as C24's ropes came flying at her. She caught them though. C24 ran around the circle and pulled his ropes. The bucket tipped.   
  
Every drop of that new-clear material got into the safe bucket. Sir even said 'good job' for the first time ever. C2 high-fived all of us and double high-fived me. Sir was right for once. We really were a good team.   
  
So good that he wanted to talk to me special...  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
TBC 


	5. Storytelling

Disclaimer: see part 1  
Author's Note: Sorry for the long time between updates. This chapter's short so I promise the next will be up very soon. And sorry to Twinnie for frustrating you with the lack of clues, all shall be revealed... eventually. And I lied, not all but some.  
  
S is for Spy: Storytelling  
  
  
  
They said I was dead and couldn't talk to anyone.  
  
So it was really frustrating when Sir kept asking me questions. He told me 'good job' and I wanted to impress him but I wanted to not be dead another day even more. Sir caught on quicker to my silence this time and did something I never heard him do before.  
  
He laughed.  
  
Sir said this was the most obedient I had ever been. He said that was 'ironic'. I heard a song called that once and all the things that happened in it were plain bad luck. I was confused.   
  
They said obedience was a good thing. But now it was bad luck.  
  
While we were in this office Sir said I didn't have to be dead and I could talk. He said he hoped my obedience was permanent because I was going to be needing it. Pretty soon, he said, camp was going to get harder and if I wasn't obedient I would get a tummy ache like C17 and have to go home. He said the other kids shouldn't have to put up with my 'outbursts'.   
  
I told him maybe I wanted to go home.   
  
He asked me which home I wanted to go to.  
  
I told him I only had one. He said I was wrong. He said if I wasn't obedient I would have none. Sir said if I had to go home my family wouldn't be allowed to live in my house anymore and we'd have to go away.   
  
I should have poured the new-clear waste on Sir.   
  
Two days ago we had a new kind of game all together. We got one minute and we had to make up a story and make other kids and camp grownups believe it.   
  
It was a lot like lying. I was especially good at it.  
  
I convinced a lady that worked in the cafeteria to carry a potato around for three whole hours because I told her it would make the wrinkles in her hands go away.   
  
That was one of the biggest tricks to making up stories. If you told a person something they really wanted to be true they almost always believed even if they knew deep down that it wasn't true.   
  
Sir asked me if I could be obedient like it was no big deal. But Sir wanted me to be obedient. I could tell. He'd been telling me for days and days that he needed me to be following orders and be obedient. Things people need work even better than things people want. So I lied to him.  
  
He believed it. 


	6. Hearing Things

Disclaimer: See part 1  
Author's Note: Story's wrapping up maybe two or three more parts to go. This one's short again but the next one's in the works and will be much longer.  
  
S is for Spy: Hearing Things  
  
They said we'd made 'quantum leaps' in the past few weeks.  
  
Men and women had been coming in for the week of camp to observe us. Mostly they all looked like Sir. They wore suit and sunglasses and almost never smiled. Sir said to pretend they weren't there just keep doing the games like usual. It was like the times my dad would get out the video camera for special occasion and tell me not to make faces at it.   
  
Sometimes the people wrote things down or talked to Sir but they never said anything to me. Except one woman, but that was because I started it.   
  
We'd just left the shooting lanes when I saw her standing near the door to the weapons locker. She wasn't wearing any sunglasses and she looked like she was going to be sick. I asked if she was feeling okay and she wouldn't say anything she just looked sicker. Everyone else was leaving for lunch and I saw Sir coming from the observation room so I ran into the locker to put my gun away.   
  
Sir stopped outside to talk to the woman. I didn't want to leave. I'd be in trouble for not being in line with the others and Sir would think I wasn't obedient.  
  
So I stayed just inside the door. Sir and the woman were talking. I focused on my breathing like Sir taught me before a hide and seek game. If you breathe too loudly you give yourself away. Sir said you could learn a lot of things just by looking and listening.  
  
I listened.  
  
"How do you do it?" The woman asked. Her voice was shaky.  
  
"It's not so hard once you see what they're capable of." Sir said back.  
  
"They're only children Devlin." She said.   
  
"Don't think of what they are now. Think what the will be one day."  
  
"And what's that?" She didn't sound sick any more. She sounded angry.  
  
I saw Sir shrug his shoulders. "Weapons."   
  
Sir and the woman left. They'd been talking about us I realized. I looked at the rows of guns behind me. Each of was shiny and new, in perfect condition with its own "cereal number". But twenty- four were missing. They were down the hall in the cafeteria. And one was standing right here in my shoes. 


	7. Virtual

Disclaimer: See part 1  
Author's Note: Like I promised here's nice long part. It's also darker than the previous ones.  
  
S is for Spy: Virtual   
  
They said most of us wouldn't have the capacity to kill.   
  
Sir showed us a big list of numbers on an overhead projector. The print was way too small to read so I just squinted my eyes and nodded when he looked at me. Sir said the numbers came from the "World Wars". The tiles were the only parts big enough to see. One said "Statistics from the 'Battle of the Bulge'". Sounded like some kind of diet plan to me.   
  
The numbers meant most of the soldiers who died had never fired their weapons. And most had been shot in the back.   
  
They were running away.   
  
Sir said less than thirty percent of people could fire a gun at another person. I don't know why, the triggers push pretty easily.   
  
All this meant was it was time for a new game.   
  
We marched in lines to a room I'd never seen before. It was full of monitors and electronic equipment. Sir gave us each a head- set and a really heavy pair of gloves. We got a gun too but it was fake. It was bright red and kind of roundish.   
  
This game was called Virtual and Sir said it would be the hardest one yet. There would be a test on it tomorrow.   
  
Test?  
  
What a stupid game.   
  
I looked at all my equipment not sure how twenty-five of us would play in such a small room. It looked like the game Timmy's big brother had. It was his favorite so we weren't allowed to play. But I snuck a turn once. When I put on the goggles it was like being in a raft on a river. It wasn't a good game though. It made me sick.  
  
We each had a lane like the shooting lanes so I couldn't see the others. Sir said to put on the headsets. The floor in my lane started moving. I put on the headset.  
  
The room was empty.   
  
I walked around totally confused. My equipment was gone. All but the gun. And it wasn't the fake one anymore it was my gun from the lanes.   
  
I left the room into the empty white hallway. My footsteps sounded so small. There was no one anywhere.   
  
I was nearly at the end of the hall when running footsteps started at the other end. They were loud and heavy. A grownup's. Sirs maybe.   
  
I turned around. But I'd never seen this man before. He was dressed in a nice suit like Sirs though. He shouted and another man burst from a door in the hallway. I jumped back out of the way around the corner. They were coming fast toward me.  
  
I peeked around cautiously wondering where they were going so fast. There was a deafening bang and the plaster of the wall above me exploded.   
  
One of them had fired his gun. At me.   
  
My blood all rushed to my head the same way it does when mommy tells embarrassing stories. But then it rushed off again and I felt woozy. Even it was scared.   
  
I was running before I even knew it. But they were catching up. This was a race I wouldn't win.   
  
I recognized the door in front of me. It lead to a big indoor playground.   
  
I threw my weight against the heavy metal door and slipped inside. It shouldn't have opened. Sir always had to use a credit card to get inside before.  
  
The room was huge and pitifully bare of hiding places. Maybe I just got lucky and someone didn't shut the door again. Maybe the men would need a credit card. Sir said maybes got you killed.   
  
There was a ladder built into the wall by the door. I climbed it faster than I ever had before and grabbed the ring at the top. The rings went all the way across the ceiling and Sir timed how fast we could do them. But I didn't want to cross today.   
  
I swung on the ring and wrapped my legs around the rafter it was connected to. My dress flew up around my waist. Now I know why I hate dresses so much. But I couldn't fix it now.  
  
The door opened and the men came in. I wasn't scared anymore. The bad guys never look up.   
  
They just don't.  
  
When the men left I waited until I couldn't hold on anymore before coming down. I had no plan, no 'objective' so I had to make my own. As long as I thought about the objective I wouldn't be scared.   
  
I decided I should get outside. If these men were chasing people around with guns everyone would have run away outside.   
  
There was a short hallway leading from the door on the other side of this room, it went outside. I ran as fast as I could across the room. My footsteps sounded much louder.  
  
I had to lean back on my heels to pull the door open. Then I had to hold it just a crack while I got my breathing quiet.  
  
I peeked around the corner. My blood all went to my head again. There was another bad guy facing away from me. Looking out my escape door. I had to get past him. I just had to.  
  
That's when I remembered my gun. He wasn't too far away. As far as the target in the shooting lanes. I stepped through the door and got in the right stance. I focused on his head just like it was the bull's eye of the paper target.   
  
But he turned right before I pulled the trigger. I jerked and froze in surprise. The bullet didn't.  
  
When it hit it was nothing like the paper target. That just leaves a little hole. This hole was in his chest; it was dark red and grew and grew...  
  
I ran over to the man, forgetting to be afraid. His eyes rolled around when he looked at me. Blood gushed from his chest. He didn't yell at me or try to get up and fight like bad guys are supposed to.  
  
He cried for his mother.   
  
The blood got all over my dress and made the floor slippery. I turned around and threw up. That made the floor even more slippery.  
  
I slid and fell down on my knees. My stomach heaved but there was nothing left in it to throw up.  
  
They said most of us wouldn't have the capacity to kill.   
  
Now I knew why. I would never shoot anyone ever again. I didn't want to see another gun.   
  
The gunshot had alerted another man. He ran from the door I'd come through.   
  
I shot him too. 


	8. Reality

Disclaimer: See part 1  
Author's Note: Just think of "Virtual" and "Reality" and the halves of a two-parter. This one picks up where virtual left off. The next chapter will be the last.  
  
S is for Spy: Reality  
  
They said Virtual was the hardest game yet.  
  
But it wasn't a game. Not even close.   
  
I don't even remember walking through the door to the outside. But I must have because one minute I was in the red hallway and the next the world had gone black. I spun but there was nothing. All of a sudden my head and arms felt heavy. Almost too heavy to hold up.   
  
Had I been shot?  
  
Red letters flashed in my eyes that said to remove my gloves. I tore at my hands. There were gloves there. I had forgotten. I scratched my face and pulled out some hair trying to get my headset off.   
  
I dropped all the gear. I wanted to hear it smash on the floor but an adult was there waiting for it.   
  
It hadn't been real. Just another game. Like Timmy's brother's that made me sick.  
  
I realized then that my hands were curled up in fists. I opened them shakily telling myself to calm down.   
  
There was something sticky on my right hand.  
  
Blood.  
  
I stared at if so horrified it took a while to notice the stinging by my ear. The blood was mine I'd scratched myself pretty good.   
  
All around the room kids had taken off their headsets. I was one of the last to finish. It was very quiet. A lot of kids had tears running down their faces but no one made any sounds.   
  
I found C2 or she found me because was walked together to the other end of the room. C24 was there. He looked the best of anyone.   
  
Kids had started grouping around him. They all looked lost and pale as milk. And he at least still looked like he knew where he was. Who he was. He broke away from the group to talk to us. "They- they got shot." He said in the quiet voice people use at funerals.   
  
"I killed him." My voice didn't want to work.  
  
C2 nodded. "T-two." Was all she said before turning around and throwing up. I rubbed her back like mommy does for me. C24 held her hair.   
  
"Two." He agreed.  
  
They said it might be hard to sleep that night.  
  
At first it was. Every sound was footsteps of men with guns. Every breath was too loud and the room was too dark.   
  
I counted sheep until they ran out. There just weren't enough sheep in the world to make me fall asleep. I looked over at C2. She was awake too and looking at me.  
  
She pulled back her blankets and waved me over. I started to get up. But getting out of my bed wasn't obedient. I rolled over and shut my eyes.  
  
There was a clean dress at the foot of my bed in the morning. Either it was a new one or someone had managed to get the vomit and blood stains out of my other one.   
  
We were back in the small room again today. A lot of the kids looked scared. But Sir said we were playing a different game. Only this one didn't have a name, it was "reality".  
  
Sir said it was almost the same as Virtual. We were lined up again same as yesterday. Sir gave us our guns from the lanes and grownups came around and put heavy gray vests on us with lots of filled pockets.  
  
Yesterday the men in the black suits had been the enemy. But Sir said the enemy always looked different. Sometimes he said, the enemy was an old man who had crinkly eyes like my grandpa or a woman who smiled like my mom.   
  
They said "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."  
  
But they had it backwards because today my friends were the enemy.  
  
Our objective was to get outside to safety. But the doors would only open up for the last kid standing.   
  
Only one of us would get out. This was the test Sir was talking about. Who would pass? Who had the capacity to kill?  
  
We left the room one by one. There was a grown up at the door. I recognized the woman from the shooting lanes. "Spare ammo's in the vest." She said. "Wait until the bell to shoot." I nodded and walked past her. "Don't spare anyone, he'll know."   
  
I swallowed and ran off for the playground room. My perch atop the rafter was empty. It was a good place to start. If C2 ran by I could always close my eyes. If I didn't see her Sir couldn't say I spared her.  
  
Only one of us could be left.  
  
When you ran around a building with 25 kid- shaped guns did it matter which one shot you first?   
  
A loud ringing filled my ears exactly like the fire alarm at school. I was still clinging to the bottom of the rafters and I almost fell. After that I swung myself up pretty quickly to lie on top. The game had begun.  
  
I didn't have to wait long for someone to try and cross my room. C16 was slinking across in the shadows. I didn't want to kill her.   
  
A picture of my family and my house flashed in my mind.   
  
Aim and pull.   
  
The gun didn't crack like usual. It kind of whistled and C16 fell silently. I made my way back down the ladder toward C16. Mom always crossed herself when she saw a dead person. Sir said the dead could tell you things.   
  
Mom's never killed anyone before. Me and Sir have.   
  
I shook C16 lightly. How was she supposed to tell me anything when she was dead?  
I put my ear down to listen closer. Her heart was thudding. She wasn't dead.   
  
I looked for the bullet, maybe my aim was off. There was no bullet. It was a little dart stuck in her stomach. She sure looked dead though. I guess she was dead and her heart just hadn't figured it out yet.  
  
C16 was heavy but I pushed her further into the shadows. There were still twenty- three against me.   
  
C4 came next. I clenched my teeth pulled the trigger and ticked him off my list. C21 and C11 slumped to the floor. My finger was starting to feel numb. C12, and my arm was numb too. By the time C15 and C25 fell I was numb all over. C7 came in and my Dead Dart hit his arm. He staggered but didn't fall. I hit him two more times and he was down.   
  
The next time the door opened it was C2.  
  
I curled up smaller on the rafter. The bad guys never look up. They just don't. They just don't. They just...  
  
But C2 wasn't a bad guy. She looked up.   
  
She raised her gun and shot up. The Dead Dart missed me by a mile. She shrugged and walked away, pausing in all the shadows. I knew she'd seen me.  
  
The rafter didn't seem like such a good hiding place any more. I was swinging from the ring to the ladder when the door opened. My fingers jumped apart and I fell...  
  
My feet hit the ground first but my ankle rolled over. There was a pop as loud as a gunshot. I fell the rest of the way to the ground next to C16. Somehow my gun had ended up across the floor. It must have hurt because tears kept getting away from me but I was still numb. Who had come in?  
  
C24 emerged from behind a big foam block, silent as a shadow. "C5?" He asked.  
  
"Yeah." I couldn't run anywhere and this was the boy who shot two men in Virtual with no reaction. "Come and get me."   
  
He didn't shoot just walked towards me. He didn't lower his gun either. "You're hurt." He still didn't lower it.   
  
"Maybe," I said, searching the dark behind me. I found C16's gun. "But you're dead." 'Maybes' did get you killed.  
  
C2 was back. She looked down at C24 and she was crying too. I told her I shot him. She said she saw.   
  
We just looked at each other. Guns don't care who they kill. I did.   
  
The door opened for the last time and Sir came in. He walked over and took the gun right out of my hand. He told us we were disobeying orders. Said we were the last two left. He looked at C2 and told her to shoot me.   
  
We both looked at C24. I waited for the shot.   
  
"Why?" She said.  
  
Sir got angry red. He pointed the Dead Dart gun at her. "I gave you an order C2! I have the authority!"   
  
I snatched Sir's gun from his hip. It was too big. "That's not authority. It's just a gun." I told him. He spun on me. "I have one too." We pulled at the same time and the world turned black again.  
  
I hoped the bullet hit his heart. If he had one. 


	9. The Beginning

Disclaimer: see part 1  
Author's Note: Yep this is it the last part. Hope you all enjoyed the ride. Just a warning this may not be the resolution you were expecting but there are reasons for that. Thus, there are questions that won't be answered and names that won't be named. If you have a question or name you'd like to know feel free to email me: Nyah513@hotmail.com  
And if you'd like to see some sort of companion piece to S is for Spy let me know!  
  
S is for Spy: The Beginning  
  
My clothes were all laid out on my bed when I woke up. The bed in the nurse's office was better than my camp bed. And the nurse was much nicer than the one at my school. She kept asking if I was comfortable. The nurse at school always sends me back to class.   
  
It was hard to get out of bed without stepping on my foot too much. The nurse had picked out jeans and a t-shirt with a little heart patch ironed on it. My favorite outfit. Why did I feel like I hadn't worn it in forever?  
  
My old worn out sneakers were tight on my toes. Well on the one foot anyway I couldn't get it on the other one.   
  
Mom and Dad came right after I finished my breakfast in the nurse's office. I wanted to eat with the other kids but the nurse said I shouldn't walk on my foot. I told her it was better now. But she caught on when I kept saying 'ow' walking across the room.   
  
Dad asked if I had fun at camp. "Yes, sir!" I said smiling then I stopped smiling because I remembered I was going home. Dad looked at me funny and Mom said she guessed they'd managed to teach me some manners at camp.  
  
Mom helped me to the car while Dad took my suitcase. When we got there Dad opened it and started putting more clothes in. Mom said she was impressed that I folded my clothes so nice.   
  
I told her the nurse did it.  
  
Dad said the nurse folded just like Mom.  
  
All my clothes looked strange. For some reason, I knew they would be too small for me.   
  
While we were getting in the car the nurse and the owner of camp came out. Mr. Devlin had his arm all wrapped up in a sling. He 'dislocated' his shoulder playing football the same day I sprained my ankle in a game of tag.  
  
The nurse gasped and pointed to blood leaking through Mr. Devlin's bandages. I guess 'dislocated' shoulders bleed a lot.  
  
The nurse and Mr. Devlin waved and smiled while we drove away. Mr. Devlin didn't have such a nice smile. He showed too many teeth.   
  
I blew him a kiss. I hoped he'd get better.  
  
Snuggles was on the seat beside me. I told Mom he needed a new eye. You could learn a lot of things by looking and Snuggles would miss too much without an eye.   
  
There were more suitcases in the car than just mine. I asked Mom about them. She said Dad found a better job back at our old house so we were moving. Today.  
  
But there weren't any jobs at all at our old house.   
  
I was moving away from Timmy and my school, the whole country even. Mom said it was okay to cry. I told her I didn't need to cry.   
  
It wasn't like somebody died.  
  
Dad asked what I did at camp. I said all my times tables and named all the countries and the capitals. Dad said he was impressed, I learned a lot at camp. I told him I learned even more than that.  
  
I was right about there not being any jobs at our old house. Dad figured it out pretty quick too because we got on another plane the next day and went to a new house in a new place.   
  
Dad asked me the capital when we got off the plane. "Moscow." I said. It was our new game.   
  
I started school there. It was extra hard because they didn't talk in either language I knew. But my teacher said I was learning the language fast. It wasn't so bad. Sometimes it almost seemed familiar.   
  
Mom and Dad had to work really hard at their new jobs. Sometimes they had to work very late and so I started staying at our neighbor's house after school. Miss D.   
  
She helped me with my school work and she could talk in English too. I liked her a lot. She had pretty brown hair and a nice voice. Her chocolate colored eyes and perfect lips would give her a pretty smile but looked sad all the time.  
  
Her face made my brain itch. Maybe I met her once. Or maybe she reminded me of Mom. It bothered it me. I don't like maybes.   
  
I stayed with her more and more. We had a lot of fun and played all kinds of games.  
  
Miss D. was there the night I had my fever.   
  
I woke up from a dream and she was there with a bowl of soup but I was shaking too bad to eat it. She asked me about my dream. I told her in the dream I shot Mr. Devlin.   
  
She asked why I shot him  
  
I said it was because he was a bad guy and did made us do bad things at camp.  
  
She rocked me and said Mr. Devlin was a very bad guy and it was okay to be mad at him and all the grownups at camp. She said they were bad people.  
  
I got so angry about Sir I threw my soup. I promised Miss D. I would shoot him one day.  
  
She reminded me that I already did.  
  
"Only once." I said. He deserved to be shot a thousand times. By every kid.   
  
My fever lasted for two more days but I didn't have the dream anymore. I didn't know why I was so angry. Mr. Devlin was such a nice man who taught me a lot of things. Camp was a very satisfying and enriching experience.   
  
On my birthday when Mom and Dad were working especially hard to get promoted, Miss D. said we would go do some shopping for presents. "We'll pick out some new clothes for school. Wouldn't you like that Anna?"  
  
I looked down at my jeans that ended a few inches above my ankles and the too short t-shirt with the heart patch falling off. "Yes, ma'am!"   
  
Miss D. was right. These clothes didn't fit me anymore. 


End file.
